Tokyo - Shares in Japanese company Toyota Motor fell sharply on
Friday after US president-elect Donald Trump denounced the carmaker's
plans to build a new factory in Mexico.
Toyota shares closed at 6,930 yen, or 59.7 dollars, down 1.69 per
cent after falling as much as 3.1 per cent in the morning, while the
benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.34 per cent.
"Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build
Corolla cars for US. NO WAY! Build plant in US or pay big border
tax," Trump said on Twitter on Thursday.
Toyota chief executive Akio Toyoda told reporters on Thursday that
the company would consider Trump's comment in decisions regarding its
business in Mexico.
Toyota said in a statement the new plant, which was announced in
April 2015, would not cause a decrease in production volume or
employment in the US. The new plant is to be built in Guanajuato,
Mexico.
"Toyota has been part of the cultural fabric in the US for nearly 60
years," Toyota said in the statement, adding that the carmaker looks
forward to collaborating with the Trump administration.
Read also: Ford bins $1.6bn Mexico plant
Toyota has 10 manufacturing facilities, 1 500 dealerships and 136 000
employees in the United States and more than 21.9 billion dollars
worth of direct investment in the US, it said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga responded to Trump's
criticism, saying, "Toyota has been aiming to be a good corporate
citizen for the United States."
"Japanese automakers are making significant contributions in terms of
jobs in the United States. It is important that their efforts and
results are accepted widely," Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko told a
news conference. "It is an issue of a private company but the
government is set to support it."